“I have nothing to say, I am saying it, and that is poetry”
-John Cage
I have had some sort of website for as long as I can remember now. I’m getting older and my memory isn’t what it used to be, so “as long as I can remember” may not mean much. I’d say that’s a topic for another day, but I know I’ll forget to write about it. I never really held the illusion that I would post updates on a daily basis. I don’t think I ever thought it would be as infrequent as once a month or so, but that seems to be the rate that I’ve maintained.
Why so infrequent then? There are a few reasons for that:
I’m generally a private person. While this has changed a lot over the last few years, I’m still not going to post a lot of the little details of who / what / when regarding my daily life. If you want to know, ask. I try to respect the privacy of other people as well, so I don’t generally mention anyone else in this space. Some stories just don’t get told here. I have a handwritten journal for those stories. You won’t be reading them here. You won’t be reading them at all unless you’re the person cleaning out my house after I die. If you are, I apologize in advance for the melodramatic crap you will wade through.
Politics and religion. I have a great deal to say about both. You won’t read it here. Those are two subjects that I doubt I will change anyone’s mind on. I’d like to think that my mind is still open, but the way that public discourse has deteriorated lately it’s difficult to have a respectful conversation about those subjects. Because feelings are easily trampled without context and body language, I think it’s something best discussed in person.
I think there’s too much chatter already. I created a Twitter account to follow a friend who was on vacation. I’ve never posted anything to it. I don’t see the point in constantly talking if I don’t have anything to say. Obviously not everyone on the internet feels this way, but I’m smart enough to realize that nobody cares if I had a ham sandwich today.
Speaking of mindless chatter, there’s the subject of Facebook. Love it or hate it, it does have that critical mass of users that makes it the go-to website for maintaining contact with my friends. Many of my friends had my website address and email address but it took the constant visibility of Facebook to get them engaged in conversation. Since that’s where their eyeballs tend to be, that’s where most of the daily small talk and chit-chat goes. This space gets the more (I hope) thoughtful musings that don’t fit into the confines of a Facebook status message.
It’s deceptively easy to get caught up in the world of social media. Check email, check Facebook, check Flickr, go back to see if any new emails came in while checking other stuff. It’s a never-ending cycle of self-importance, and of waiting for something to happen instead of making things happen. I spend enough time as it is keeping up with my friends on Facebook, reading various blogs, and surfing the intertubes for things of interest. It could take up every bit of my free time if I let it. I don’t. If that means that I drop off of social media sites for a week or two at a time, I’m ok with that. If it means that I don’t update this site but once a month or so, that’s ok too.
I have no illusions of being the next celebrated blogger. This is a small site for myself and for any friends or family that want to read my occasional ramblings. I try to edit myself and keep it to things that are worth reading. We all need to get out and live our lives while we can. I don’t want to let the constant voyeurism of the online life prevent me from living my life.
That means that if you’re one of the people that checks this space, more often than not it will be the same as it was the last time you stopped by. I’d rather you spend 5 seconds checking if it’s changed than 2 minutes reading some mindless drivel about the Great Moose Conspiracy.
Thoughts?
Next up: The Great Moose Conspiracy.